Trump Abruptly Cancels Bill Signing Ceremony

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0:15Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump just abruptly canceled a press conference that was going to be held in Congress in order to promote an actual bipartisan piece of legislation referred to as the Road to Housing Act. Donald Trump posted the following message moments ago. Today's housing news conference and signing is hereby canceled until such time as we pass the desperately needed Save America Act, which I consider to be a national emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter, DJT. So Donald Trump refused to do this press conference on a bipartisan basis with Republicans and Democrats inside of the Capitol building where there would be the signing of the 21st century Road to Housing Act, which was actually passed with massive bipartisan support.

1:10Ben Meiselas:I'll talk about what's in that. Just even when the political parties come together, Donald Trump wants to make it divisive, make it about himself, make it about voter suppression because he just wants to take away everybody's joy. Instead, what he wants to do is post about the reflecting pool. This is the hard rubber surface, no paint before the vandals pulled it apart. And then he posts more photos of what he claims to be the reflecting pool. You know, this bipartisan housing bill was co-sponsored by Elizabeth Warren in the United States Senate on the Democratic side and Tim Scott, Republican senator from South Carolina.

1:52Ben Meiselas:So when you have Scott and Warren coming together and then on the House, you had MAGA Republican Congress member French Hill and Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters coming together. This bill passed in the Senate 85 to five. It passed in the House 358 to 32. So it's veto proof. It's got massive support and it's going to help the American people. And what does Donald Trump do? He makes posts like this, the Elizabeth, Pocahontas, Warren centric housing bill. You know, folks, I'll keep on reading this in a moment. It doesn't have to be this way. This isn't me speaking as a Democrat or independent or speaking about Republicans or politics.

2:35Ben Meiselas:It doesn't have to be this mean-spirited and evil and divisive and hate-filled. We can actually exist together as a country and do things like housing legislation that benefits the people and do it with grace and do it with dignity and not with the drama. I'm canceling it. I'm canceling it. And I'm going to call Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas and I'm going to be a racist asshole. Come on, man. Come on. This is what Donald Trump posted. The Elizabeth Pocahontas-Warren-centric housing bill, which is of minor importance compared to lower interest rates and even FISA, pales in comparison to the passing of the Save America Act.

3:15Ben Meiselas:That's his Voter Suppression Act, which would also make women have to go back, find their birth certificates, present that when they vote if they have a different last name as their maiden name. That is what Americans, both Democrats, Republicans, and everyone else care about. Get the bad Republicans to approve it, or better yet, terminate the filibuster, everything else Republicans have ever dreamed of. The Democrats will do it in one hour, 100%. Republicans will feel very stupid if they don't do it first. I'll be watching with tears in my eyes, DJT. Then he goes, my real poll numbers are the highest they've ever been.

3:51Ben Meiselas:Thank you, DJT. In terms of what the 21st Century Road to Housing Act does and why it was supported on a bipartisan basis. It merges elements from the Senate's Road to Housing Act and the House. It increases housing supply, reduced cost regulation, modernizes programs, support affordability, addressing institutional investors. So let's just talk about some of the things that it does. Boosting supply and cutting red tape, grants and incentives for local governments, tribes to reform zoning, adopt pre-approved designs, limits on large institutional investors, and this is a big one, restricting large investors, generally those owning 350 plus single family homes, from buying more single family homes, aiming to prioritize families over private equity, corporate landlords, buying up the housing supply.

4:39Ben Meiselas:I mean, we all want that. I mean, I think it should be more aggressive, but that's at least a step in the right direction. and then has other reforms to rural housing, manufacturing, modular housing. When it comes to financing and homeownership, it has provisions for small dollar mortgages, community banking support, pathways to homeownership. And so it actually is a bipartisan piece of legislation. And then Donald Trump wanted to, again, turn a day, which could have been about actually bringing the country together into this. We had Scott McFarlane, the Midas Touch head of our Washington, D.C.

5:14Ben Meiselas:Bureau. He was there when this all went down. Here's what he describes just took place.

5:44passed the SAVE Act first, the federal elections bill. Members of Congress have shown up to kind of do their own videos dunking on this. Yes, that's Maxwell Frost of Florida. Suha Subramayam of Virginia is here. This is an episode they're trying to amplify as a sign of dysfunction in the administration. Dysfunction at the White House with Trump putting his own personal interests ahead of the country's interests. We have a lot of empty seats. There will be no ceremony, but there is the grandeur of Statuary Hall for you and me to enjoy.

6:18Ben Meiselas:You can see some photos of what the press conference looked like, where it was going to take place before Donald Trump canceled it. Elizabeth Warren, one of the co-sponsors of this piece of legislation, along with MAGA Republican Senator Scott, she was asked on CNBC, why do you think Donald Trump did this? And she's like, I'm not going to get into the guy's head like the guy's a psycho. Here play this clip. Senator, I'm curious why you think then that the president canceled the signing at the 11th hour. And I ask that because the House voted on Tuesday at 358 to 32. So it was largely bipartisan here.

6:52I'm just curious what you think actually changed. Look, I'm sorry if you're asking me to get into Donald Trump's head and figure out what's going on there. You need somebody else. I just I don't have any idea. This just doesn't make any sense other than whatever it is he wants to do. It's a complete indifference to the cost squeeze on American families and to genuine efforts to do something about it. You know, he could be over here trying to claim a victory lap. And instead he's saying, no, no, he doesn't want anything to do with it. It's because he really doesn't care about American families.

7:31and doesn't care about the fact that prices are up and the promises he made to lower costs on day one have not only come to nothing, prices are higher on groceries, prices are higher on healthcare, prices are higher on virtually everything that Americans buy because of Donald Trump's policies.

7:53Ben Meiselas:You know, and while Donald Trump announced that he was canceling this press conference, You had the House lead co-sponsor, MAGA Republican Congress member French Hill, saying how much Donald Trump supported it, although Donald Trump refused to be there to sign it and Trump was attacking it. This is what the Republican was doing at the same time it was announced that Trump was canceling things. Let's play it. Off in New York or somewhere. It's a legitimate issue. And Tim Scott and I found a way to put that into law that, in our view, meets the president's test, but absolutely will not reduce capital flowing into housing, which has been my top goal.

8:30Lower the cost of housing, make it more affordable, more accessible, encourage the banks to lend more that have been shut down since the global financial crisis in 2008. And this bill does that. And so I'm proud of the work that both chambers struggled through. For those of you who cover this every day, you know the back and forth between the House and Senate. But it's a successful today, and I'm proud of the work of the House and Senate to get people to yes. And so I yield back.

8:58Ben Meiselas:And then you had Treasury Secretary Scott Fessant doing the next hit on CNBC saying, I think we were a little too successful in Iran. Things went way too good. We were so good here at play this clip. Trey, again, you've been generous with your time. We appreciate it. And making the effort. I like all that. Can you leave the Secret Service? You need those guys, I guess. What's that? Can you leave the Secret Service, guys? You need all these? I think we've been a little too successful with the Iranians. We're in the middle of Times Square. I mean, every time you see training tapes, it's like filmed out here.

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10:55Ben Meiselas:You had MAGA Republican Congress member, MAGA Mike Johnson, MAGA Speaker of the House, He goes, I'm going to walk through the details with Donald Trump. We'll just go through it bit by bit. And Aaron Rupert says he talks about Donald Trump, MAGA Mike does, as though he needs to like be explaining things to a toddler. Let's play this clip. Families, critical to do, great policy. The president, when we go through the details of the bill, he's going to understand that it's a good product and certainly something that fulfills his promises to bring down the cost. Interest rates is another big priority of his and all of And I think the new Fed chair will do that.

11:30We get the economy humming again. We keep the straighter homos open. We keep gas prices down to earth. This economy is going to take off like a rocket, y 'all.

11:37Ben Meiselas:And then you had MAGA Republican Congress member Mauser. He went on state regime media, which calls itself Fox. And he said, I know that everybody's a little bit worried about the economy right now and affordability. He's like, but we'll deal with affordability. And then after the election, we'll get Iran. Just you wait. That's when we'll do it. After the election and the midterms. That's what he and Brian Kilmeade say. Let's play this clip. And yes, the affordability question is there, but they realize it's over Iran and the president's winding that down. So the terrorist state of Iran is going to be in the history books in a matter of days.

12:15Ben Meiselas:Well, yeah, if not after the election, I'm sure they're going to get it. Let's actually talk about what's happening while Donald Trump is creating this unnecessary and vile drama here in the United States. You have Marco Rubio, as I did a video on this earlier, in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. As I said, he's doing a meeting with the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait. And I believe he's trying to sabotage the MOU. He didn't want to be affiliated with it. He wasn't there in Switzerland during the technical discussions, even though that's quite literally the job description for the Secretary of State.

12:53Ben Meiselas:But notice when you have Rubio meeting with the leaders in Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates, look who's also there as well. You have Trump's son-in-law, Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump's husband there. So you have Jared Kushner, who is apparently raising$5 billion more in addition to the$5 billion he previously raised in the Middle East. And now you have Michael Boulos sitting next to in this meeting in UAE with the Sheikh MBZ, the country's leader. He's the president. And Boulos is no formal role in our government, but Trump's other son-in-law right there. Meanwhile, while you have the nepotism fest of Boulos and Kushner and whatever the hell Rubio is doing, Iran is making notable gains in strides.

13:44Ben Meiselas:They're meeting in Azerbaijan. You have M.B. Galabaf, their parliament leader and lead negotiator, basically going on a victory tour. He announced today during a meeting, the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding became a declaration of America's defeat. For us, the ceasefire, Galabab says, in Lebanon has been as important as a ceasefire in Iran. And likewise, ending the war in Lebanon has been as important as ending the war in Iran for us. While he was saying that, you have Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, that's his name, Israel Katz says, even if there is an American demand, we will not withdraw from Lebanon.

14:27Ben Meiselas:200 ,000 residents will not return to their homes in Lebanon. That is our territory now. That is our security zone now, is what Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz says. Netanyahu held a press conference moments ago where he said, When I came to Trump, I told him, we're going into Iran. I don't ask for permission. I inform him of our plans. They told us, don't enter Syria. They said it wasn't wise. They said it wasn't justified. We went in with full force. Then he said the same about Lebanon as well, and the same about Gaza. A broader narrative unfolding as well that I've been talking about now for months in those morning videos I do with world leaders.

15:11Ben Meiselas:Remember where I was talking about a new multilateral organization amongst the Arab states forming, pushing out the U.S. security umbrella, that the U.S. power in the Middle East will fade now, and there will be a broader cooperation with Iran. We're seeing that happen. So Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Al Thani says that Gulf states and Iran, GCC, are negotiating a new regional security framework, one that relies less on Washington and one that relies more on regional cooperation. For decades, as Ayman Jameel explains. Gulf security rested on the U.S. umbrella. But what we saw now with the U.S.

15:58Ben Meiselas:failure in the catastrophic war in Iran, the Arab nations are now saying, why would we ever be allied with the United States? We can't depend on a U.S. security umbrella. So the Gulf countries are moving toward a multipolar security order that will include Iran. So whether this becomes a lasting stability or temporary alignment remains to be seen, but the entire regional architecture is shifting. U.S. out, Iran in, in terms of the Abraham Accords, which was kind of Israel, UAE, Bahrain dictating terms in the region, that weakening, and now a new arrangement rising with Iran in command, in charge.

16:42Ben Meiselas:I want to note as well, while you have those regional developments. You have Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump continuing to cause irreparable harm to the United States military. I did a video on it this morning about General Christopher Donahue, a four-star general. The last US soldier to leave Afghanistan in 2021 was basically forced to resign. Hegseth kicked him out. He was the US Army commander in Europe and Africa. And I went through all of his accomplishments, but I mean, here was someone who was literally one of the most decorated and accomplished generals that we had. Lots of people believed he should have been the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and certainly a future army chief of staff.

17:33Ben Meiselas:But the other army chief of staff, Randy George, was fired as well or forced to resign by the Trump regime. I'll note this at the end as well, just to show you what the MAGAs are now talking about as well. You have MAGA Republican Congress member Birchett talking about turning the reflecting pool into its own ecosystem. Let's play this clip. Any reaction to this reflecting pool controversy? Yeah, it's algae and science. It's just going to happen. I don't, um it'll be darker of course you've got a filtration system and um and you're gonna have to hit it with the chlorine or it's it's just not bleach or whatever i know they did peroxide there's other methods too but i would you know honestly i think it'd be cool if they just just let it go and um and create an ecosystem have fish in there and everything and just let it go i think that would be a cool way to go.

18:37But paintings are out. You can replaster. You can do a lot of

18:41Ben Meiselas:things. And then you had J.D. Vance being, let's just say he showed a lot more affection to Erica Kirk than his wife. Did you see when he greeted his wife for some weird podcast they were doing, he like patted her leg? I mean, did you see this here? I'll play us out with J.D. Vance right now, one of the strangest individuals around here playing that's right today's special reader is my husband vice president of the united states jd vance thanks for joining us today honey of course good to see you there you have it everybody let me know what you think hit subscribe let's get to 7 million subscribers let's go let's rally to 7 million let's try to hit it soon thanks for watching everybody have a good one want to stay plugged in become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com.

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